The purpose of this thesis is to create a search strategy to find orbital debris when the object fails to appear in the sky at its predicted location. This project is for NASA Johnson Space Center Orbital Debris Program Office through the MODEST (Michigan Orbital Debris Survey Telescope) program. This thesis will build upon the research already done by James Biehl in “Formulation of a Search Strategy for Space Debris at GEO.” MODEST tracks objects at a specific right ascension and declination. A circular orbit assumption is then used to predict the location of the object at a later time. Another telescope performs a follow-up to the original observation to provide a more accurate orbit predication. This thesis develops a search strategy when the follow-up is not successful. A general search strategy for finding space debris was developed based on previous observations. A GUI was also generated to find a search strategy in real-time for a specific object based upon previous observations of that object. Search strategies were found by adding a 2% mean random error to the position and velocity vectors. Adding a random error allows for finding the most likely location of space debris when the orbital elements are slightly incorrect. A bivariate kernel density estimator was used to find the probability density function. The probability density function was used to find the most probable location of an object. A correlation between error in the orbital elements and error in right ascension and declination root mean square (RMS) error was investigated. It was found that the orbital elements affect the RMS error nonlinearly, but the relation between orbital element and error depended on the object and no general pattern was found. It was found that how long after the original object was found until the follow-up was attempted did not have a large impact on the probability density function or the search strategy.

No description available.

Le Large Area Telescope à bord du satellite Fermi, lancé le 11 juin 2008, est un télescope spatial observant l'univers des hautes énergies. L'instrument couvre l'intervalle en énergie de 20MeV à 300GeV avec une sensibilité nettement améliorée et la capacité de localiser des sources ponctuelles. Il détecte les photons ? par leur conversion en paire électron- positron, et mesure leur direction et leur énergie grâce à un trajectographe et un calorimètre. Cette thèse présente les courbes de lumières et les mesures spectrales résolues en phase des pulsars radio et gamma détectés par le LAT. La mesure des paramètres spectraux (flux, indice spectral, et énergie de coupure) dépend des fonctions de réponse de l'instrument (IRFs). Une méthode développée pour la validation en orbite de la surface efficace est présentée en utilisant le pulsar de Vela. Les efficacités des coupures entre les données du LAT et les données simulées sont comparées à chaque niveau de la rejection du fond. Les résultats de cette analyse sont propagés vers les IRFs pour évaluer les systématiques des mesures spectrales. La dernière partie de cette thèse présente les découvertes de nouveaux pulsars ? individuels tels que PSR J0205+6449, J2229+6114, et J1048-5832 à partir des données du LAT et des éphémérides radio et X. Des analyses temporelles et spectrales sont investies dans le but de contraindre les modèles d'émission gamma. Finalement, nous discutons les propriétés d'une large population de pulsars gamma détectés par le LAT, incluant les pulsars normaux et les pulsars milliseconde. / The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi, launched on 2008 June 11, is a space telescope to explore the high energy ?-ray universe. The instrument covers the energy range from 20MeV to 300GeV with greatly improved sensitivity and ability to localize ?-ray point sources. It detects ?-rays through conversion to electron-positron pairs and measurement of their direction in a tracker and their energy in a calorimeter. This thesis presents the ?-ray light curves and the phase-resolved spectral measurements of radio-loud gamma-ray pulsars detected by the LAT. The measurement of pulsar spectral parameters (i.e. integrated flux, spectral index, and energy cut-off) depends on the instrument response functions (IRFs). A method developed for the on-orbit validation of the effective area is presented using the Vela pulsar. The cut efficiencies between the real data and the simulated data are compared at each stage of the background rejection. The results are then propagated to the IRFs, allowing the systematic uncertainties of the spectral parameters to be estimated. The last part of this thesis presents the discoveries, using both the LAT observations and the radio and X ephemeredes, of new individual ?-ray pulsars such as PSR J0205+6449, and the Vela-like pulsars J2229+6114 and J1048-5832. Timing and spectral analysis are investigated in order to constrain the ?-ray emission model. In addition, we discuss the properties of a large population of ?-ray pulsars detected by the LAT, including normal pulsars, and millisecond pulsars.

Raios γ são bilhões de vezes mais energéticos do que fótons visíveis. Através da observação do céu deste tipo de radiação, é possível estudar fenômenos como a emissão de pulsares, explosões de super-novas e buracos negros, assim como os gamma ray bursts, um dos maiores mistérios da astrofísica moderna. A principal técnica utilizada em observações astrofísicas de chuveiros de raios gama é a de Telescópios Cherenkov, que podem reconstruir a trajetória dos raios γ durante sua passagem pela atmosfera observando sua emissão de radiação Cherenkov. Existem diversos experimentos bem-sucedidos em funcionamento, tais como o VERITAS, MAGIC e HESS. Em 2006 um novo observatório foi proposto, com sensibilidade uma ordem de magnitude melhor do que qualquer outro experimento atual. O Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) está em fase de protótipo e consistirá de dezenas de telescópios Cherenkov com tamanhos diferentes, o que possibilitará observações em muitas regiões do espectro de raios-gama. O local onde o Observatório será construído ainda não foi decidido e dependerá de várias características geográficas para fazê-lo, sendo uma das mais importantes o tempo observável, que deve ser maior que 80% para ser considerado um possível sítio. Um dos locais propostos está localizado no norte da Argentina, próximo a cidade de San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC). Para demonstrar a funcionalidade deste sítio, desenvolvemos um espaço nele para testarmos propriedades ópticas e mecânicas de quatro protótipos de espelhos, além de suas condições de condensação. Três espelhos hexagonais de Vidro/Alumínio, com 1.5 metro de base a base, e um circular de Vidro/Dielétrico, com 0.5 metro de diâmetro, todos esféricos com posição focal entre 15 e 16 metros, foram expostos às condições ambientais de SAC entre Maio/2013 até Junho/2014. Para testar a variação de suas propriedades mecânicas e ópticas devido à exposição ao meio ambiente, dois testes foram feitos. Para verificar se a curvatura e a suavidade da superfície do espelho permaneceram constantes, desenvolvemos um equipamento no Instituto de Física de São Carlos que media a posição 2f do espelho, onde a imagem formada é a menor possível, e sua Função Ponto Espalhada (PSF), o tamanho da imagem feita pelo espelho de uma fonte pontual. A posição focal de todos os espelhos foi estável, enquanto a PSF mostrou pequena variação com o tempo de exposição. Para analisar a variação da cobertura de Alumínio (ou Dielétrico) dos espelhos, nós medimos a variação de sua refletividade através de um espectrômetro portátil fabricado pela OceanOptics, que mostrou que a cobertura dielétrica é mais estável do que as de alumínio, que tiveram pouca variação entre 300-400 nm na maioria dos espelhos. E, finalmente, para testar a qualidade de ambos espelho e sítio em relação ao tempo de observação, calculamos o tempo de condensação de dois espelhos durante o período de Dezembro/2013 até Abril/2014. Isso foi feito através de fotos automáticas de cada espelho tiradas remotamente durante a noite, fornecendo dados para observar mudanças diárias na qualidade da superfície dos espelhos assim como a condensação durante esse período. Um espelho de Vidro/Alumínio e um de Vidro/Dielétrico foram testados, ambos mostrando resultados similares de aproximadamente 20% de tempo condensado, estando no limite de 80% de tempo observacional mencionado anteriormente. Através destes testes, pretendemos criar uma técnica para o cálculo do tempo de condensação em qualquer sítio proposto. / γrays are billions of times more energetic than visible photons. Through the sky observation of this kind of radiation, it is possible to study phenomena like the emission from pulsars, supernova explosions and black holes, as well as gamma-ray bursts, one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics. The main technique used in astrophysical observations in γrays showers is the Imaging Cherenkov Telescope, which can image the trajectory of gamma-rays during its passage through the atmosphere by observing its emission of Cherenkov radiation. There are several successful experiments currently functioning, such as VERITAS, MAGIC and HESS. In 2006, a new observatory was proposed, which will have a sensitivity one order of magnitude better than any of the existing experiments. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is in its prototype phase, and will consist of several tens of Cherenkov telescopes with different sizes, which will allow observation in many different regions of the γray spectrum. The site where the Observatory will be constructed is not yet decided and it depends on several geographic characteristics, being one of the most important the observable time, which must be above 80% to be considered as a possible site. One of the proposed sites is located in the north of Argentina, close to the city of San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC). In order to demonstrate the functionality of the site, we developed a facility on it to test the optical and mechanical properties of four prototype mirrors, as well as their condensation conditions. Three Glass/Aluminum hexagonal mirrors, 1.5 meters flat-to-flat diameter, and one Glass/Dielectric circular mirror, 0.5 meters diameter, all spherical with a focal position between 15 and 16 meters, were exposed to the environmental conditions of SAC from May/2013 until June/2014. To test their mechanical and optical properties variation because of the environment exposition, two different tests were made. In order to verify if the curvature and smoothness of the mirrors remained constant, we developed an equipment at the Instituto the Física de São Carlos that could measure the 2f position, where the image formed by the mirror is the smallest as possible, and its Point Spread Function (PSF), the size of the image made by the mirror by a punctual source. The focal position of all mirrors was proven to be stable, while the PSF size showed small differences according to the exposure time. To examine the variation of the Aluminum (or Dielectric) covering of the mirrors we measured its reflectivity variation through a portable spectrometer fabricated by OceanOptics, which showed that the dielectric covering is more stable than the Aluminum ones, even though all of them showed a constant reflectivity in the 300-400 nm range. And finally, to test both the mirror and the site quality in observation time, we calculated the condensed time of two mirrors during the period of December/2013 until April/2014. This was done through automatic pictures of each mirror taken remotely during the night, providing data to observe daily changes in the quality of the mirror surfaces as well as if there is condensation during that period. A Glass/Aluminum mirror and the Glass/Dielectric one were tested, both showing very similar results of around 20% condensed time, being in the limit of the 80% of observational time forementioned. Through these tests, we intend to provide a technique for the calculation of condensed time in any proposed site.

The Io UV footprint (IFP) is one of the most spectacular signatures of the Io-Jupiter interaction. It consists of several auroral spots and an extended tail which are located close to the feet of the magnetic field lines passing through Io in each hemisphere. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that a careful analysis of the Io UV footprint based on observations acquired with the STIS and ACS high resolution and high sensitivity FUV cameras on board the Hubble Space Telescope can provide us with essential information on the ongoing physical processes. The thesis is organized around basic questions: What is the Io footprint?, Where is the Io footprint?, How high is the Io footprint?, How big is the Io footprint? and finally: How bright is the Io footprint? The answers to these questions have profound implications for the understanding of the phenomenon. Among the most important results of this work is the unexpected finding of a faint auroral spot appearing upstream of the main Io spot in one hemisphere while only downstream spots are seen in the opposite hemisphere. The detailed study of the evolution of the inter-spot distances puts previous models describing the footprint morphology under question. We propose a new interpretation which involves that some spots are caused by electrons accelerated away from the planet along the field lines in one hemisphere, crossing the equatorial plane in the form of electron beams and precipitating in the opposite hemisphere, creating the so-called Trans-hemispheric Electron Beam (TEB) spots. The information provided by the position of the satellite footprints is not restricted to the interaction between the moon and the Jovian magnetosphere. The analysis of the footpaths of Io, Europa and Ganymede helped us to further constrain the magnetic field models, notably through the identification of a large magnetic anomaly in the northern hemisphere. Additionally, the study of the speed of the Io footprint along its reference contour suggests that a second anomaly regions may also exist in the North. In this work, we present a new and direct method to measure the altitude of the different footprint features. The main spot and the tail emissions have a peak altitude of 900 km while the peak altitude of the Trans-hemispheric Electron Beam spot is 700 km. These results suggest that the main spot and tail emissions are caused by the precipitation of electrons with a mean energy around 1 keV, far lower than the 55 keV value previously derived from spectral measurements. The vertical extent of these emissions is surprisingly broad (scale height ~400 km) and is best fitted with an incoming kappa electron energy distribution (spectral index ~2.3). This suggests that the electron acceleration is supplied by processes related to inertial Alfvén waves rather than by quasi-static potentials as proposed by some theoretical models. The size of the main footprint spot is carefully estimated on a much larger image sample than before: its length along the footpath is ~900 km while its width perpendicular to the footpath is <200 km. Larger lengths are sometimes observed but in that case, they are attributed to the mix of individual spots. The spot length is larger than the projected diameter of Io around the magnetic field lines but is consistent with recent simulations. As far as the Io footprint brightness is concerned, variations on two timescales have been studied. On timescales of minutes, systematic brightness fluctuation on the order of 30% (and going up to 50%) are observed. Additionally, cases of simultaneous variations of the main and the TEB spots are reported, which suggests that the process that triggers these fast variations is located close to the planet. Variations of the main spot brightness with the System III longitude of Io are also analyzed. Our new measurement method fully considering the multi-spot structure of the IFP and the real geometry of the observations provides more accurate estimates for the precipitating energy flux (between 100 and 500 mW/m for the main spot). The main spot brightness peaks at 110° and 290° longitude, which could be attributed either to an enhanced interaction strength when Io is near the dense torus center or to spots merging which is also observed to occur in these sector. Nevertheless, strong North-South asymmetries are also observed, which suggests that the surface magnetic field strength also influences the spots brightness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L'empreinte aurorale d'Io est l'une des signatures les plus impressionnantes de l'interaction Io-Jupiter. Présente dans chaque hémisphère, elle se situe à proximité des pieds des lignes de champ magnétique qui interceptent Io et se compose de plusieurs taches suivies d'une longue trainée. Cette étude vise à démontrer qu'une analyse minutieuse de l'empreinte UV d'Io basée sur les observations des instruments STIS et ACS du Télescope Spatial Hubble peut apporter des informations cruciales sur les processus physiques qui sont en jeu. Cette thèse est organisée autour de questions relativement basiques: Qu'est-ce que l'empreinte d'Io?, Où se trouve-t-elle?, A quelle altitude se trouve-t-elle?, Quelle est sa taille? et enfin Quelle est sa brillance?. Les réponses à ces questions ont de profondes implications pour la compréhension du phénomène. Parmi les résultats principaux de ce travail, il y a la découverte inattendue d'une faible tache aurorale apparaissant en amont de la tache principale dans un hémisphère alors que les seules taches observées dans l'hémisphère opposé sont situées en aval. L'étude détaillée de la distance inter-taches remet en question les précédents modèles décrivant la morphologie de l'empreinte. Nous proposons ici une nouvelle interprétation de certaines de ces taches: elles seraient causées par des électrons initialement accélérés le long des lignes de champ dans la direction opposée à Jupiter, qui ensuite traverseraient le plan équatorial sous la forme de faisceaux d'électrons et qui précipiteraient finalement dans l'hémisphère opposé en générant la tache du Faisceau d'Electrons Trans-hemisphérique (FET). Les informations fournies par la position des empreintes de satellites ne se limitent pas à l'interaction entre Io et la magnétosphère de Jupiter. L'analyse des contours parcourus par les empreintes d'Io, d'Europe et de Ganymède permet de mieux contraindre les modèles de champ magnétique joviens, entre autre à travers l'identification d'une importante anomalie magnétique dans l'hémisphère nord. De plus, l'étude de la vitesse de l'empreinte d'Io le long du contour de référence suggère qu'elle pourrait être accompagnée d'une deuxième anomalie dans cet hémisphère. Dans cette étude, nous présentons une méthode directe pour mesurer l'altitude des différentes sous-structures qui forment l'empreinte. Le pic d'émissions de la tache principale et de la trainée est situé à 900 km d'altitude alors que celui de la tache FET est à 700 km. Ces résultats suggèrent que la tache principale et la trainée sont la conséquence de la précipitation d'électrons ayant une énergie moyenne d'approximativement 1 keV, une valeur largement inférieure aux 55 keV déduits à partir de précédentes mesures spectrales. L'extension verticale de ces émissions est étonnamment large (hauteur d'échelle: ~400 km) et la distribution d'énergie des électrons incidents qui reproduit au mieux les observations est une distribution kappa d'indice spectral ~2.3. Cela suggère que l'accélération des électrons est liée à des ondes d'Alfvén inertielles plutôt qu'aux potentiels quasi-statiques proposés par certains modèles théoriques. La taille de la tache principale a été mesurée sur un ensemble d'images beaucoup plus étendu qu'auparavant: sa longueur le long du contour est de ~900 km alors que sa largeur telle que mesurée perpendiculairement à celui-ci est de <200 km. Des longueurs plus importants sont parfois observées mais elles résultent de la superposition partielle de plusieurs taches individuelles. La longueur des taches est plus grande que la projection du diamètre d'Io le long des lignes de champ, ce qui était prévu par des simulations récentes. En ce qui concerne la brillance des taches, deux échelles de temps ont été étudiées en particulier. A l'échelle de la minute, nous avons mis en évidence des fluctuations de l'ordre de 30% de la brillance moyenne et pouvant atteindre jusqu'à 50 % de celle-ci. Dans certains cas, on observe des variations corrélées de la tache principale et de la tache FET, ce qui suggère que le processus qui induit ces variations rapides se situe près de la surface de Jupiter. Les variations de la brillance de la tache principale en fonction de la longitude Système III d'Io ont également été analysées. Notre nouvelle méthode de mesure prend pleinement en compte la géométrie de l'observation ainsi que le fait que l'empreinte est composée de différentes taches, ce qui permet une estimation plus précise du flux d'énergie incident (entre 100 et 500 mW/m pour la tache principale). La brillance de la tache principale possède deux maxima, un à 110° et un autre à 290° de longitude. Ces augmentations de brillance peuvent avoir deux origines: soit elles sont dues à l'augmentation de l'intensité de l'interaction entre Io et le plasma quand Io est proche du centre du tore, soit elles sont liées à la superposition des taches principales et FET qui se produit également dans ces secteurs. Néanmoins, de fortes asymétries Nord-Sud sont aussi observées, ce qui semble indiquer que l'intensité du champ magnétique de surface joue aussi un rôle en ce qui concerne la brillance des spots.

The construction of the James Webb Space Telescope has brought attention to infrared astronomy and cosmology. The potential information about our universe to be gained by this mission and future infrared telescopes is staggering, but infrared observation faces many obstacles. These telescopes face large amounts of noise by many phenomena, from emission off of the mirrors to the cosmic infrared background. Infrared telescopes need to be designed in such a way that noise is minimized to achieve sufficient signal to noise ratio on high redshift objects. We will investigate current and planned space and ground based telescopes, model the noise they encounter, and discover their limitations. The ultimate goal of our investigation is to compare the sensitivity of these missions in the near and mid IR and to propose new missions. Our investigation is broken down into four major sections: current missions, noise, signal, and proposed missions. In the proposed missions section we investigate historical and current infrared telescopes with attention given to their location and properties. The noise section discusses the noise that an infrared telescope will encounter and set the background limit. The signal section will look at the spectral energy distributions (SED) of a few significant objects in our universe. We will calculate the intensity of the objects at various points on Earth and in orbit. In the final section we use our findings in the signal and noise sections to model integration times (observation time) for a variety of missions to achieve a given signal to noise ratio (SNR).

Raios &gamma; são bilhões de vezes mais energéticos do que fótons visíveis. Através da observação do céu deste tipo de radiação, é possível estudar fenômenos como a emissão de pulsares, explosões de super-novas e buracos negros, assim como os gamma ray bursts, um dos maiores mistérios da astrofísica moderna. A principal técnica utilizada em observações astrofísicas de chuveiros de raios gama é a de Telescópios Cherenkov, que podem reconstruir a trajetória dos raios &gamma; durante sua passagem pela atmosfera observando sua emissão de radiação Cherenkov. Existem diversos experimentos bem-sucedidos em funcionamento, tais como o VERITAS, MAGIC e HESS. Em 2006 um novo observatório foi proposto, com sensibilidade uma ordem de magnitude melhor do que qualquer outro experimento atual. O Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) está em fase de protótipo e consistirá de dezenas de telescópios Cherenkov com tamanhos diferentes, o que possibilitará observações em muitas regiões do espectro de raios-gama. O local onde o Observatório será construído ainda não foi decidido e dependerá de várias características geográficas para fazê-lo, sendo uma das mais importantes o tempo observável, que deve ser maior que 80% para ser considerado um possível sítio. Um dos locais propostos está localizado no norte da Argentina, próximo a cidade de San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC). Para demonstrar a funcionalidade deste sítio, desenvolvemos um espaço nele para testarmos propriedades ópticas e mecânicas de quatro protótipos de espelhos, além de suas condições de condensação. Três espelhos hexagonais de Vidro/Alumínio, com 1.5 metro de base a base, e um circular de Vidro/Dielétrico, com 0.5 metro de diâmetro, todos esféricos com posição focal entre 15 e 16 metros, foram expostos às condições ambientais de SAC entre Maio/2013 até Junho/2014. Para testar a variação de suas propriedades mecânicas e ópticas devido à exposição ao meio ambiente, dois testes foram feitos. Para verificar se a curvatura e a suavidade da superfície do espelho permaneceram constantes, desenvolvemos um equipamento no Instituto de Física de São Carlos que media a posição 2f do espelho, onde a imagem formada é a menor possível, e sua Função Ponto Espalhada (PSF), o tamanho da imagem feita pelo espelho de uma fonte pontual. A posição focal de todos os espelhos foi estável, enquanto a PSF mostrou pequena variação com o tempo de exposição. Para analisar a variação da cobertura de Alumínio (ou Dielétrico) dos espelhos, nós medimos a variação de sua refletividade através de um espectrômetro portátil fabricado pela OceanOptics, que mostrou que a cobertura dielétrica é mais estável do que as de alumínio, que tiveram pouca variação entre 300-400 nm na maioria dos espelhos. E, finalmente, para testar a qualidade de ambos espelho e sítio em relação ao tempo de observação, calculamos o tempo de condensação de dois espelhos durante o período de Dezembro/2013 até Abril/2014. Isso foi feito através de fotos automáticas de cada espelho tiradas remotamente durante a noite, fornecendo dados para observar mudanças diárias na qualidade da superfície dos espelhos assim como a condensação durante esse período. Um espelho de Vidro/Alumínio e um de Vidro/Dielétrico foram testados, ambos mostrando resultados similares de aproximadamente 20% de tempo condensado, estando no limite de 80% de tempo observacional mencionado anteriormente. Através destes testes, pretendemos criar uma técnica para o cálculo do tempo de condensação em qualquer sítio proposto. / &gamma;rays are billions of times more energetic than visible photons. Through the sky observation of this kind of radiation, it is possible to study phenomena like the emission from pulsars, supernova explosions and black holes, as well as gamma-ray bursts, one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics. The main technique used in astrophysical observations in &gamma;rays showers is the Imaging Cherenkov Telescope, which can image the trajectory of gamma-rays during its passage through the atmosphere by observing its emission of Cherenkov radiation. There are several successful experiments currently functioning, such as VERITAS, MAGIC and HESS. In 2006, a new observatory was proposed, which will have a sensitivity one order of magnitude better than any of the existing experiments. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is in its prototype phase, and will consist of several tens of Cherenkov telescopes with different sizes, which will allow observation in many different regions of the &gamma;ray spectrum. The site where the Observatory will be constructed is not yet decided and it depends on several geographic characteristics, being one of the most important the observable time, which must be above 80% to be considered as a possible site. One of the proposed sites is located in the north of Argentina, close to the city of San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC). In order to demonstrate the functionality of the site, we developed a facility on it to test the optical and mechanical properties of four prototype mirrors, as well as their condensation conditions. Three Glass/Aluminum hexagonal mirrors, 1.5 meters flat-to-flat diameter, and one Glass/Dielectric circular mirror, 0.5 meters diameter, all spherical with a focal position between 15 and 16 meters, were exposed to the environmental conditions of SAC from May/2013 until June/2014. To test their mechanical and optical properties variation because of the environment exposition, two different tests were made. In order to verify if the curvature and smoothness of the mirrors remained constant, we developed an equipment at the Instituto the Física de São Carlos that could measure the 2f position, where the image formed by the mirror is the smallest as possible, and its Point Spread Function (PSF), the size of the image made by the mirror by a punctual source. The focal position of all mirrors was proven to be stable, while the PSF size showed small differences according to the exposure time. To examine the variation of the Aluminum (or Dielectric) covering of the mirrors we measured its reflectivity variation through a portable spectrometer fabricated by OceanOptics, which showed that the dielectric covering is more stable than the Aluminum ones, even though all of them showed a constant reflectivity in the 300-400 nm range. And finally, to test both the mirror and the site quality in observation time, we calculated the condensed time of two mirrors during the period of December/2013 until April/2014. This was done through automatic pictures of each mirror taken remotely during the night, providing data to observe daily changes in the quality of the mirror surfaces as well as if there is condensation during that period. A Glass/Aluminum mirror and the Glass/Dielectric one were tested, both showing very similar results of around 20% condensed time, being in the limit of the 80% of observational time forementioned. Through these tests, we intend to provide a technique for the calculation of condensed time in any proposed site.

The field of X-ray astronomy is only forty (43) years old, and grazing incidence X-ray telescopes have only been conceived and designed for a little over fifty (50) years. The Wolter Type I design is particularly well suited for stellar astronomical telescopes (very small field-of-view). The first orbiting X-ray observatory, HEAO-1 was launched in 1977, a mere twenty-eight (28) years ago. Since that time large nested Wolter Type I X-ray telescopes have been designed, build, and launched by the European Space Agency (ROSAT) and NASA (the Chandra Observatory). Several smaller grazing incidence telescopes have been launched for making solar observations (SOHO, HESP, SXI). These grazing incidence designs tend to suffer from severe aberrations and at these very short wavelengths scattering effects from residual optical fabrication errors are another major source of image degradation. The fabrication of precision optical surfaces for grazing incidence X-ray telescopes thus poses a great technological challenge. Both the residual "figure" errors and the residual microroughness or "finish" of the manufactured mirrors must be precisely measured, and the image degradation due to these fabrication errors must be accurately modeled in order to predict the final optical performance of the as manufactured telescope. The fabrication process thus consists of a series of polishing and testing cycles with the predictions from the metrology data of each cycle indicating the strategy for the next polishing cycle. Most commercially available optical design and analysis software analyzes the image degradation effects of diffraction and aberrations, but does not adequately model the image degradation effects of surface scatter or the effects of state-of-the-art mosaic detectors. The work presented in this dissertation is in support of the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) program. We have developed a rigorous procedure by which to analyze detector effects in systems which exhibit severe field-dependent aberrations (conventional transfer function analysis is not applicable). Furthermore, we developed a technique to balance detector effects with geometrical aberrations, during the design process, for wide-field applications. We then included these detector effects in a complete systems engineering analysis (including the effects of diffraction, geometrical aberrations, surface scatter effects, the mirror manufacturer error budget tree, and detector effects) of image quality for the five SXI telescopes being fabricated for NOAA's next generation GOES weather satellites. In addition we have re-optimized the remaining optical design parameters after the grazing incidence SXI mirrors have been imperfectly fabricated. This ability depends critically upon the adoption of an image quality criterion, or merit function, appropriate for the specific application. In particular, we discuss in detail how the focal plane position can be adjusted to optimize the optical performance of the telescope to best compensate for optical figure and/or finish errors resulting from the optical fabrication process. Our systems engineering analysis was then used to predict the increase in performance achieved by the re-optimization procedure. The image quality predictions are also compared with real X-ray test data from the SXI program to experimentally validate our system engineering analysis capability.

We present the details of the optical design, corrector system, mechanical layout, tolerances, pointing requirements, and overall performance of the sub-millimeter wavelength Large Balloon Reflector telescope (LBR).

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)(+), located in West Texas at the McDonald Observatory, operates with a fixed segmented primary (M1) and has a tracker, which moves the prime-focus corrector and instrument package to track the sidereal and non-sidereal motions of objects. We have completed a major multi-year upgrade of the HET that has substantially increased the pupil size to 10 meters and the field of view to 22 arcminutes by deploying the new Wide Field Corrector (WFC), new tracker system, and new Prime Focus Instrument Package (PFIP). The focus of this paper is on the delivery, installation, and on-sky verification of the WFC. We summarize the technical challenges encountered and resolutions to overcome such challenges during the construction of the system. We then detail the transportation from Tucson to the HET, on-site ground verification test results, post-installation static alignment among the WFC, PFIP, and M1, and on-sky verification of alignment and image quality via deploying multiple wavefront sensors across 22 arcminutes field of view. The new wide field HET will feed the revolutionary new integral field spectrograph called VIRUS, in support of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), a new low resolution spectrograph (LRS2), an upgraded high resolution spectrograph (HRS2), and later the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF).